


Your Light's Always Shining On

by LustMonster



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Charles is a Star, Erik is a Pirate, Lighthouse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-09
Updated: 2012-12-09
Packaged: 2017-11-20 17:03:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/587707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LustMonster/pseuds/LustMonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik is a pirate captain returning home to the place where he was born and his fallen star who keeps the lighthouse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Light's Always Shining On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Schach](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schach/gifts).



> This is a happy birthday fic (a day late I'm so sorry OTL) for my lovely Guru! I'm sorry it's short/angsty but you did say "anything" and you know I'll write you whatever you like <3 (who knows, maybe it'll become a 'verse *shrug*)

Light swept across the bay in a triangular flood, illuminating the night-black waves and jagged rocks wreathing the cliffside.

 

An exultant “land!” came from somewhere in the crow’s nest, echoing across the relatively calm sea. Captain Lehnsherr rolled his eyes, standing at _Lady Edith_ ’s prow with his arms folded behind his back and staring ahead at the silhouettes of the town.

 

“Drop anchor!” He called, trusting the wind to carry his voice back to the crew, echoes of his command already drifting up to his ears. The _Lady Edith_ would remain anchored just outside the bay for the duration of their stay, too large to risk sailing into the small port. And furthermore, Erik thought grimly, those rocks at its mouth were no less dangerous than they had been when he first crashed against them as a navigator on the _Dreaming Wind_.

 

He could feel the chains rattling as Azazel prepared the lifeboats for their journey inland, the Russian looking up when the captain approached, giving him a slow smile and glancing toward the lighthouse. “How long we stay this time?”

 

“I haven’t decided yet.” Erik followed Azazel’s gaze, fancying that he could see a shadow in the lantern room, waiting. The taller man stepped into his boat without preamble and balanced himself in the swaying vessel. “You have the ship until I return. Make certain if you go to land that Stark remains to watch her.”

 

“Aye, aye, sir.” With a mocking salute, Azazel began to lower him toward the water.

 

**

 

Up close, the lighthouse was nowhere near so grand as it appeared from afar. The gray stones were twined with ivy that tore into them as much as they decorated. Part of the western wall had been obliterated completely sometime between Erik’s visits, exposing the stairs twisting up its center, a bird’s nest cradled between two bricks.

 

The hinges squealed when Erik pushed the door open, his wet boots leaving tracks across the earthen floor, trampling over grass and tentative little buds. For all its activity, the lighthouse looked more abandoned than anything, semi-reclaimed by the Earth. The stairs were woven with the same ivy that crawled across the exterior, dry and crackling beneath his feet.

 

Erik ran a hand over the bricks as he ascended, staying close to the wall and only intermittently glancing down at the floor growing smaller each time.

 

When he reached the top, the trapdoor was closed, the rusted iron trembling under his regard. The captain liked to think he could hear footsteps as he reached out a tendril of power to flick the door up, but it was almost deadly silent in the lantern room.

 

At first, Erik’s heart clenched with worry in his chest, walking quickly around the lantern, searching, mind reaching out for . . . emptiness.

 

“Charles?” He called, gripping the handrail and looking heavenward. “Charles!”

 

The flame behind the glass grew, its light brighter than the sun for a brief moment, and Erik turned away from it, hiding his face within his overcoat and inhaling the briny scent that clung to it. When the heat began to recede, he changed a glance upwards, a shaky laugh escaping him.

 

Charles was beautiful and burning, arms stretched high above his head, shaking out his long hair and standing on the tips of his toes. His pale skin was bare and radiant as the flames licked across it, clinging to him like a babe at its mother’s breast. Slowly, he turned, eyes bluer than anything, twinkling like the night sky, brimming with a cluster of emotions Erik could feel if not name.

 

“There you are.”

 

Charles smiled and the flames began to recede as he glided forward, arms outstretched.

 

By the time Erik had arms locked around the other man, the fire had fled within, Charles’ skin warm and soft beneath his callused fingers, lips parted and wet beneath his. Fingers made of heat found Erik’s hair, tangling in the salt-matted locks and tugging gently.

 

“You’re home.”

 

Erik smiled against Charles’ nose and nipped gently at its tip. “I am.”

 

**

 

It was nearly twenty years now since Erik had found Charles in a crater outside town.

 

_Rain was beating down on his back as he ran across the muddy hills, chest heaving from exertion. Ruth’s hand was small and cold in his own, the only part of her not shaking from the cold, but whenever he told her to go back, she flushed with_ _indignance_ _and dragged him forward._

_The closer they got to the place where they’d seen the star fall, the warmer it got, and soon Ruth was trembling with excitement instead of cold._

_One of the many hills they’d spent endless days playing in had been reduced to half of itself, a gaping hollow having destroyed most of it. In the center was the star._

_Erik put a hand on his sister’s chest, told her to stay put. For once, Ruth nodded silently and watched with wide eyes as her brother descended into the dry hole._

_He was careful, moving slowly toward the flickering ball of light, squinting and hiding his eyes behind the oversized sleeve of his coat. Closer, just a few steps now. Sweat poured down his face like a river and he could hear the rain hissing as it evaporated before it could get close to the star._

_Erik frowned and squatted a few feet away, closing his eyes as much as possible and trying to get a better look at it._

_The longer he stared, the dimmer the star seemed to become and he wondered if his eyes were adjusting or if it was truly happening._

_When a drop of rain hit his head, he figured it was the latter._

_He dared to inch closer, dropping his arm and opening his eyes millimeter by millimeter until the glare had dimmed enough that he could see beyond the halo of light to——a little boy. The “star” was losing its radiance, leaving behind a small, snow-skinned child curled up tightly, slumbering peacefully._

_As the “what—?” left his mouth, eyes opened and everything turned white._

 

**

 

“What are you thinking about?” Erik traced senseless patterns into Charles’ hip, face pressed into his lover’s hair. There were times like this when Charles still felt a million miles away, though he’d been there for decades now. But a decade was nothing to a star, just a blink, more like a second to a mortal in the grand scheme of things. And Charles’ mind would always be celestial, though he bled like any other man nowadays.

 

 _How much I love you_. Charles’ mind was a caress against his own, gentle and restrained in its power, but as audible as words spoken aloud. _Will you stay?_

 

It was the same as ever, a variant of the conversation they had whenever _Lady Edith_ docked at home. There was no hope in Charles’ voice but it had become tradition, much like their lovemaking and the visitation of Ruth’s grave. The motions were ghosts of what they’d once been.

 

“You know I can’t.”

 

 _Someday_.

 

“Yes.”

 

They both knew the only way Erik would return home for good would be as a spirit, his body adrift at sea and his ghost left to wander back to Charles. And Charles would burn on until the fire consumed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Mumford & Sons' "Reminder"


End file.
